What IS a Braunstein?

         So, I had the excellent opportunity to speak with David Wesley at ArneCon a few weeks back, and I got the wonderful opportunity to play in his Braunstein and Banania games, which were some of the most fun roleplaying I have ever had. However, notably, both of these games were quite different than what you see people call "Braunsteins" today online, in places like Substack or in the BrOSR community.

        After hearing what Mr. Wesley had to say about it, I can definitively call the Basedstein... a wargame, not a game in the Braunstein genre. Why, you might be asking? Well, Mr. Wesley actually categorized the Braunstein as what wargaming evolved into once he took the wargaming elements OUT of it! Which shows in Braunstein I, where you don't have armies or battles, but instead you are all in the settlement of Braunstein, some players being bankers, tavern owners, students, or local officials.

        Now, you might be asking yourself: "why does this matter, Cosmo?"

        Well, I am here to say that you should separate your war games and your Braunsteins! I had so much more fun playing in the Braunstein, not just because it was ran by Mr. Wesley himself, but because I realized that it is just roleplay! There was one combat in the entire game, and it was a sword fighting duel between students! But don't get me wrong, the stakes were still high! We all had our own goals and the entire game felt like a cut-throat race against the clock to make sure you got what YOU wanted done before anyone else could, and to get that done, you needed to negotiate with others.

        In future iterations of the Basedstein, I am thinking that I might have less military elements and more elements of pure roleplay. It was much more interesting having players negotiate with just money and their word, without the idea of warfare to back it up. There might also be iterations of the Basedstein where it is much more of a Wargame rather than a Braunstein, something akin to a campaign wargame, where there are teams and pitched battles and such.

         There is also a non-zero possibility that at least one future Basedstein will be held over voice chat, because I found that people speaking to each other was much more interesting than people typing to each other, because hearing tone and having to bluff on the fly was probably some of the most interesting parts of the Braunstein (and Banania!)

        I encourage you all to make an attempt to play in an actual Braunstein or Banania game while you still can! I believe Mr. Wesley is going to be at ArneCon next fall and at DaveCon next spring, both in 2027, his health permitting. It is some of the most eye-opening fun that one can have!